Artificial denture.



v Patented Iuly I, |902. J. E. DUNN.

ARTIFICIAL DENTURE.

k(Application led Mar., 1B, 1902 i UNITED STATES JAMES ELWOOD DUNN,

PATENT OEEicE.-

.OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

aimerai-.clarion formingpart of Letters Patent No. 703,720, dated Juiy 1, 1902.

Application tiled March 18I 1902.

To. LtZZ whom it' may concern:

Beitknown that I, JAMES ELWooD DUNN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dentures, of which the following is a specification, and which are illustrated in thek accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof. f

This invention relates to improvements in dental plates or dentures; and it has for its object to provide simple and effective means for'removably securing partial plates in the mouth.

The invention consists in providing the first bicuspid or any other available natural tooth at each side of the jaw with an inward ex tension or projection under or against which the plate provided with the teeth to be suppliedis sprung and held from working loose, although it may be readily7 detached for cleaning or other purposes by simply compressing the plate.

The invention further consists of the arrangement and combination of parts hereiny after fully described, particularly designated in the claims, and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 isa view of. a set of teeth of the` lower jaw, showing a partial plate constructed in accordance with my invention and sup# I plying four molars and a bi'cuspid. Fig. 2 is asection on the line am of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a view of a set` of the upper-jaw teeth, three molars and one bicuspid of which are supplied by a partial plate. Fig. 4 illustrates the plate shown in Fig. 3 and removed from the jaw.

Fig. 5 is a section through an upper tooth provided with another form of crown having an extension for engaging and holding the plate in position in the mouth; and Fig. 6 illustrates a further manner of providing a tooth with the extension or projection.

The plate consists of side portions ,10, designed to fit over or under the gum where the teeth are out and to be provided with the teeth to be supplied in the jaw, and a connecting portion 11, adapted to-flt in behind the remaining front teeth. This plate is required to be somewhat elastic, and it may be made of gutta-percha or of any other suitable serial No, 98,336. oit meer.)

material used for platework. To secure it in place, a natural tooth on each side of the jaw, and preferably the first one in front of the teeth being supplied, as 12 in Fig. 1 and 12a in Fig. 3, is provided with an inward extension or projection 13, under or against which the sides of the plate are designed to be moved and held by reason of the elasticity of the plate.

The extensions for holding the plate may be formed, as shown in Fig. 2, on a crown 14, cemented to the tooth in the usual manner, or, as shown in Fig. 5, Where is illustrated a bicuspid, the extension may be made of a double half-crown. In this case the platinum pin 15, to which the crown 16 is xed, is driven into the nerve-canal of the tooth, the nerve having previously been devitalized and removed.

In Fig. 6 the tooth (designated 20) is provided with a cavity on the inner side, and a filling or cast cusp 2l is placed therein and so shaped as to provide the extension 13. The extensions for engaging and holding the plate may be made in a great variety of ways,y and their formation and the manner of secur- `ing them in place will depend on existing conthe teeth to be supplied and the character of the teeth to be used for anchorage.

The invention may be used in securing partial plates for the upper jaw as well as the lower jaw, an upper-jaw plate being shown in Figs. 3 and et and provided with two molars on one side and a molar and bicuspid on the other.

' In building up the plate a cast is taken in plaster of the mouth after the anchorage eX- tensions have been secured in place, thereby procuring an impression of the latter, so that when the plate is made up an edge or square shoulder, as 22, (see Fig.` 4,) for engaging the extensions will be formed ou the plate adjacent to the extensions.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a denture, in combination, an elastic plate conforming to the contour of the gum with which it is to be used, and having fixed thereto the teeth to be supplied, and an extension or projection on one of the natural .teeth at each side of the jaw for engaging the IOO 2. In a, denture, in combination, an elastic ed to ft against each extension when the plate conforming to the contour of the gum plate is sprung into place. with which it is to be used, and having xed I thereto the teeth to be supplied, a crown sei 5 cured to a natural tooth at each side of the I NVitxnesses:

J. ELVOOD DUNN.

jaw and having an inward extension, and a shonlderat each side of the plate and adapt- ARTHUR B. SEIBOLD, LOUIS K. GILLsoN. 

